Draft-equalizer.



E. COMPTON.

DRAFT EQUALIZER. APPLICATION FILED Nov. 3o, 1910.

1,014,121. vPatented Jan.9 ,1912.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

CoLUMnlA PLANanRAPH c0.,wA5H|NuToN. D, C.

E. COMPTON.

DRAFT EQUALIZER.

APPLICATION IILBD Nov. so, 1910.

1,014,121. Patented Jan.9,1912.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

Iwan-r nrvrrnn srnrns EVERETT COMPTON, OF EARLHAM, IOWA.

DRAFT-EQUALIZER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented J an. 9,1912.

Application led November 30, 1910i. Serial No. 594,846.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EVERETT COMPTON, a citizen of the United States,residing at Earlham, county of Madison, and State of Iowa, have inventeda new and useful Improvement in Draft-Equalizers, of which the followingis a specification.

The object of my invention is to provide a draft equalizer forapportioning the draft equally between the rear and front teams, saiddraft equalizer being adjustable to accommodate a rear team or teamsonly.

Referring to the accompanying drawings: Figure 1 shows an embodiment ofmy invention for accommodating four (4) horses, two (2) in the rear andtwo (2) in front, Fig. 2 is a rear view of the arrangement as shown inFig. 1, certain of the parts at the right of the figure being brokenaway, Fig. 3

is a longitudinal sectional view taken substantially on line 3 3 of Fig.1, Fig. 4 is a view similar to the left-hand portion of Fig. 1, exceptthat the draft levers are adjusted to accommodate two 2) horses in therear and four (4) horses in the front,Fig. 5 is a modication arranged todistribute the draft between eight (8) horses, four (4) in the rear andfour (4) in front, Fig. 6 is a rear view of Fig. 5 taken substantiallyon line 6 6 of Fig. 5, and Fig. 7 is a view similar to Fig. 5 showingthe same arrangement, except that the draft levers are adjusted toaccommodate siX (6) horses, four (4) in the rear and two (2) in front.

Referring first to Figs. 1, 2, 3 and 4, the wagon pole or tongue 1 haspivoted thereto the main equalizing bar 2 by means of the bolt 0r pivot3. Suitable means, such as the spring member 4 secured to the pole at 5and at its free end engaging the bolt 3, may be used for preventingaccidental dislodgment of the bolt. To the ends of the equalizing bar 2are pivoted the levers 6 and 7 by means of the clevises 8, the pins ofthe clevises forming the pivot points for the levers. In the arrangementshown in Figs. 1 to 4 inclusive, the levers 6 and 7 are at their outerends provided with the up-turned flanges '9 and at their inner ends withthe downturned flanges 10, as best shown in Fig. 3. To the outer ends ofthe levers 6 and 7 are pivotally connected whiffletrees 11, in anysuitable manner-as by means of the rings 12 and clevises 13. In thearrangement shown in Figs. 1 to 4 inclusive, the whifiletrees 11 are inthe form of single-trees. A `draft plate 14 is arranged transversely ofthe pole or tongue 1 and is connected to the `inner ends of the levers 6and 7 through the links 15 and 1G respectively. These links engage thedown-turned flanges 10 of the levers, and, at their outer ends, passthrough `the openings 17 in the plate 14. The openings 17 aresubstantially at equal distances from the center of the plate 14. At itscentral point, the plate is provided with an opening' 1S adapted to bebroughtinto alinement with the opening 19 in the pole. The purpose ofthis arrangement will be presently described. A draft rope, chain orcable 20 is, at one end, connected to the plate 14, as by passingthrough the central opening 18 in t-he plate. The other end of the cableis connected to the whiftetree 21 in any suitable manner, as by beinglooped through the clevis 22 which is pivoted to the whiffletree.

The operation of the construction shown in Fig. 1 will now be clearlyunderstood from the above detailed description.

It will be noticed that the pivot axes of the levers 6 and 7 are at thecenter of the levers. According to the arrangement, the draft of therear horses or tealns should be substantially equal to the draft of thefront horses or teams. The point of draftof the rear team (it will beunderstood that by a team is meant two (2) horses) is communicated tothe levers 6 and 7 at the outer ends of the levers, while the draft ofthe front team is communicated to the levers at the inner ends thereof.In this way, the draft of the front team acts, or is balanced, againstthe draft of the rear team, the draft of both teams being communicatedto the main equalizing bar 2 at the points of connection between saidbar and the levers 6 and 7. The characteristic feature of my inventionresides in the arrangement whereby the draft plate 14 may be pivotallyconnected to the pole, so as to adapt the equalizer for a rear teamonly, and to distribute the draft between the horses of the rear team orteams. lVhen both the rear and front teams are used, the draft plate 14is capable of bodily movement relative to the pole 1. In order to adjustthe equalizer of my invention for a rear team or teams only, the draftcable is disconnected from the plate 14 and a pin or bolt 23 is insertedthrough the opening 19 in thepole and the alined.. opening 1S in theplate 14. This pivotal connection bet-Ween the plate 14 and the pole 1causes the draft of one horse of the rear team to be balanced againstthe draft of the other horse.

In Fig. 4, the pivot pins of the clevises 8 pass through the openings l)of t-he levers 6 and 7. rIhese openings are indicated in dotted lines inFig. 1. In the particular embodiment illustrated in Figs. 1 and 4, thelevers 6 and 7 are each provided with open ings L and the openings abeing at the center of the levers, while the openings b are at a pointwhich divides the effective length of each lever into two parts in theratio ofvtwo to one. In this way the draft equalizer apportions thedraft among the two 2) rear horses and the four (4) front horses. Sincethe parts shown in Fig. 4 are the same as the corresponding parts shownin Fig. 1, the detailed description above given of Fig. 1 appliesequally to Fig. 4.

In Figs. 5, 6 and 7, my new draft equalizer is shown in a form designedto be used for heavy loads, as, for instance, excavating machines, roadgraders and the like. In these figures, the pole 1 has connected theretothe main equalizing bar 24 by means of the bolt or pin 25. To the endsof the bar 24 are pivoted the levers 26 and 27 in any suitable manner,as by the clevises 2S, the pins or bolts of which form the points ofpivot for the levers. In this modification, the lever 26 comprises apair of bars 29 and 30, one arranged on either side of the mainequalizing bar 24, as shown in Fig. 6. Similarly, the lever 27 comprisesa pair of arms 29 and 30 arranged one above and one below the main bar24. The arms of the levers are spaced from the equalizing bar 24 bymeans of washers 31. To the inner ends of the arms 29 and 30 are pivotedthe rear ends of the links 32 and 33. Similarly, the rear ends of thelinks 32 and 33 are pivoted to the inner ends of the arms 29 and 30which comprise the lever 27. The arms of the lever 26 are provided withalined openings c, CZ and c. The arms of the lever 27 are provided withalined openings c', d and e. To the outer ends of the levers 26 and 27are pivoted the whiflletrees 34 and 35 respectively in any suitablemanner, as by means of the plates 26 and bolts or pins 37. Thewhiflietrees 34 and 35 are shown in the form of double-trees, to whichare suitably pivoted the swingle-trees 38. The front ends of the links32 and 33 are pivoted to the draft plate 14 by the pin 39, while thefront ends of the similar arms 32 and 33 are pivoted to the other end ofthe plate 14 by the pin 40. The draft rope or cable 20 is adapted to beconnected to the draft plate 14 in a manner similar to the cable 20 inFig. 1. It will be seen from Fig. 6 that the draft plate 14 lies in aplane passing f substantially through the longitudinal center of themain equalizing bar 24 and the whiflletrees 34 and 35, whereby thelinesof draft of all of the teams are substantially in the same plane.The specific arrangement shown in Fig. 5 distributes the draft equallyamong eight (8) horses, four (4) in the rear and fo-ur (4) in front. Itwill be noticed that in this arrangement the pivot pins of the clevises28 pass through the holes or openings c and c of the levers 26 and 27.These openings are arranged substantially at the central point of thelevers. The openings Z and d of the levers 26 and 27 divide theeffective lengths of the levers into two parts in the ratio of one totwo. That is to say, the distance between the axes of the pins 37 andthe openings (Z is half as great as distance between the openings Z andthe pivot pins 41 which establish the connection between the levers andthe links. When the levers 26 and 27 are pivoted to the main equalizingbar 24 through the openings cl and d (as shown in Fig. 7), the draftequalizer apportions the draft equally among four horses in the rear andtwo horses inV front, or eight horses in the rear and four horses infront. The openings e and e in the levers 26 and 27 divide the effectivelength of each lever in the ratio of three to two. That is to say, thedistance between the openings e or e and the outer pivot pin 37 is oneand onehalf times the distance between the opening and the inner pivotpin 41. When, therefore, the levers 26 and 27 are connected to the mainequalizing bar 24 through the openings e and 6, the equalizer apportionsthe draft equally among ten horses,-four in the rear and siX in front.By arranging the openings at other distances, the draft may bedistributed among the front and rear horses arranged in the desiredmanner. It is, of course, to be understood that the arrangement shown inFigs. 5, v6 and 7 is adjustable to accommodate rear teams only and toequally apportion the draft among the horses by disconnecting the ropeor cable 20 and passing a pin or bolt through the alined openings of thepole 1 and the draft plate 14, as previously described in detail inconnection with F ig. 1.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire tosecureby Letters Patent of the United States is:

In a draft equalizer, the combination of a pole, an equalizing barpivoted thereto, a pair of levers pivoted to the ends of said equalizingbar,`a draft plate arranged transversely of the pole and movablerelatively thereto when disconnected from the pole, means for connectingthe inner ends of said levers with the ends of said plate, a draftmember adapted to be connected at one end to said plate, whiftletreesconnected to the outer ends of said levers and said member, In Witnesswhereof, I hereunto subscribe and means for pivotally connecting said myname this 1st day of November, A. D. plate to said pole, whereby theinner ends 1910.

of said levers become connected together EVERETT COMPTON. through saidplate and are adapted to ad- Witnesses:

just themselves about the pivot point of said CLARENCE J. Lor'rUs,

plate independently of said equalizing bar. ELIZABETH SKAHILL.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for ve cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. G.

